The ‘saffronisation’ of India and contemporary political ideology

Abstract

The victory of India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has shaped current socio-political discourse through the lens of Hindu fundamentalism. Driven by right-wing Hindu nationals in the party that advocate the hegemony of the Hindu way of life, or Hindutva (‘Hindu nationalism’), contemporary political narrative can be seen to recontextualise the country's history through ‘saffronisation’ of public space, social practice, and education. This paper will explore how under the governance of the ruling party, socio-political sentiment is perceived to be shaped increasingly through Hindutva, by analysing the media framing of political ideology. To conduct the analysis, the paper draws on Bhatia's (2015) theoretical framework of the Discourse of Illusion.